Asian Tiger Mosquitoes in NJ: Aggressive Asian Insect Strikes All Day

The Asian tiger mosquito, known for its aggressive behavior and ability to spread disease among its hosts, its making its presence known in New Jersey.

As if the oversized "Jersey Mosquito" wasn’t bad enough, residents of the Garden State have a new winged foe to worry about at barbeques, family functions and pretty much anytime one steps out from their house at any point during the day, since these Asian tiger mosquitos are known to feed all day, not just at dusk.

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The Associated Press reports that before this new gang showed up, New Jerseyans had learned to live with, if not exactly love, several species of drably-clad plain brown mosquitoes that had collectively earned the title of New Jersey State Bird in late-night talk-show monologues.

Those other mosquitoes, like the ubiquitous Vexan mosquito, were predictable. They came out at dusk, sucked your blood for a while, made it impossible to get to sleep with their infernal whine, and sometimes gave you a fleeting moment of intense, murderous pleasure when you squished one in mid-bite — and then generally left you alone until the next evening.

The Asian tiger mosquito, named for its distinctive black-and-white striped legs and body markings, has no compunction about attacking when you least expect it, zooming in for a meal as you get into the car for your morning commute, for example.

The mosquito, known more properly as Aedes albopictus — or "albo" to the people charged with tracking and fighting it — was first discovered in New Jersey in Monmouth County in 1995 and has spread far to the north since then. It is a major nuisance in Bergen and Passaic counties, according to the mosquito-control agencies in both places.

The Asian tiger mosquito could be "a more efficient disease vector, especially for West Nile virus," he said, because "it bites in daytime and could put more people at risk."

Pete Rendine, chief inspector with the mosquito control division of the Bergen County Public Works Department, said Asian tiger mosquitoes "are the worst, nuisance-wise, because they are adapting to our climate. They are here to stay."

"This is an extremely obnoxious nuisance mosquito," said Claudia O'Malley, a biologist for the state's mosquito control division. "It is impossible to control without concerted efforts by homeowners in eliminating the breeding habitat," she said.

Not only is it aggressive, but the Asian tiger mosquito is a known vector for some serious viral diseases around the world, including West Nile virus, dengue fever, eastern equine encephalitis and chikungunya fever, experts say.

Among those diseases, the only ones that are of real concern in northern climates like that of New Jersey are equine encephalitis, which affects horses, and West Nile, which affects people.

Among the 63 different species of mosquito known to exist in New Jersey, relatively few have risen into the ranks of extreme nuisance as has the albopictus, with its preference for daytime hours and human blood. Many breed in remote woodland areas and have very short ranges. One has a decided preference for frogs. One survives exclusively on flower nectar. Another, known as the cannibal mosquito, in its larval stage eats the larvae of other mosquitoes and then grows into an adult that lives on flowers.

"The thing is, if homeowners would only clean up their property we would not even have an albopictus problem," said Rendine, the Bergen County chief inspector. Even a discarded bottlecap holds enough water to allow Asian tiger mosquito eggs to hatch into larvae, Rendine said, and a neglected kiddie pool or clogged gutter can turn into a breeding ground and bring misery to an entire neighborhood, he added.

Rendine said he often responds to reports of mosquito swarms only to discover that the source is a carelessly discarded tire or a container of stagnant water teeming with mosquito larvae known as "wrigglers."

"This is how you kill them," Rendine said, spilling a cup filled with water and wrigglers out onto the ground behind his office on Jerome Avenue in Paramus. "That's it. That's all there is to it. Without water, they die."

Rendine said that when he responds to a complaint he sometimes sees that the source of a problem is in a neighboring yard, and if the neighbor refuses to cooperate by eliminating the cause, he has to call the municipal or county health department.

A major source of breeding water, said Green, the Passaic County control officer, is abandoned swimming pools behind foreclosed homes. "There's nobody to maintain these pools, and the mosquitoes just take over," he said.

"If everybody did their part, this mosquito could be eliminated," Green said.

Warren Staudinger, the assistant chief inspector in Bergen County, agreed.

"If everyone could be a good neighbor, and if there's an elderly person who physically can't turn over a trash can filled with water, offer to do it for them," he said.

The larvae needs about seven days to develop into flying adults, Staudinger said. Once that happens, the only thing that will kill the creatures is spraying. "Water left standing for more than five days is an open invitation," he said.

But don’t drain your backyard ornamental pond just yet, there are other options.

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According to Rendine, residents with such ponds can do one of two things: either keep the water flowing by installing a water garden aeration kit that will discourage mosquitoes from laying eggs or stock the waterhole with two-inch long, mosquito larvae eating fish known as gambusia afinis.